Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Full of Life
by wolf expert
Summary: The world of Atra is slowly dying as its aura fades away. A small band of rebels led by Lucario dedicates themselves to stopping the one behind it all and restoring the world to what it once was. Progress is slow until Lucario makes a discovery that changes everything; a nameless human with the abilities of an Aura Reader. This story is the prequel to the Investigators series.
1. Chapter 1 Dark World of Atra

"It's been three days since she's woken up already. She hasn't spoken a word?"

"Not one. Not a single word. How long did it take for her to wake up?"

"Almost a week. She was found unconscious in the forest. Her injuries were pretty bad."

"Something attacked her, huh? Another one of those shadow pokemon?"

"More than one by the looks of it. She was lucky to survive, honestly."

"Do you know who it was who found her?"

"Who do you think? He almost never leaves her alone. Couldn't blame him considering who the doctor is. Apparently he fought off all of those pokemon entirely on his own. When did he get so strong?"

"Does it matter? He saved the kid's life. We are sure it's a kid, right? I've never seen a human before."

"I think so. I've read some of the books in the library. There aren't many mentions of humans, but one will pop up every now and then. I think it's a kid; a female human child. Yea I'm sure of it. Too short to be an adult and females usually have long hair like that."

The two pokemon standing outside of the human child's room turned to the east end of the hall. Sounds echoed through the castle corridors so when someone was approaching it was usually easy to tell. They had become accustomed to a certain Pokémon's footsteps; the very one who had apparently saved the human from the Withered Woods area. They weren't entirely sure how he would react to seeing them sneaking around since he acted so protective of her. He was usually nice, but they weren't about to take the chance. The two pokemon standing near the doorway hurried off quickly and quietly around the nearest corner.

Of course, this pokemon had sensed them there. His abilities were greater than anyone in this castle knew, even the ruler of this castle. She was the last one who could ever know. While he had sensed the two of them there, he didn't particularly care. They had been quiet enough, hadn't entered, and they weren't the pokemon in charge of taking care of her, so as far as he was concerned they were no one dangerous.

He walked into the room, which was dimly lit by a candle that was almost entirely melted. As usual the kid he had rescued was lying in bed with the covers up to her chin and her arms tightly wrapped around a Banette doll. She was staring transfixed at the music box on the table. Both the music box and the doll had appeared with her and were the only items in the beat up old bag that she had brought with her.

He walked up to the bed and knelt down next to her. "Are you feeling any better today?"

As usual she didn't answer, just kept staring at the music box on the table with those startling blue eyes of hers. It was becoming a serious problem. They tried to get her to eat, but she hardly ever did. They would have to leave the room for hours and eventually at some point in that time she would get hungry enough to eat a few bites, but she would go right back to that same position when she was done. If he didn't get her to walk around soon, she would start to have problems with her muscles. Normally he might not be so concerned, but he was the one who brought her into this situation. He knew that she was an Aura Reader. He had only seen a few others aside from her, but her silver and gold aura was a dead giveaway and he hadn't been the only one to see it.

"I went out to the forest again today. I looked around but didn't find anything else that might have belonged to you. Is this really all you had with you? A doll and a music box? You must have traveled pretty far; I've never seen a human before I saw you. Why didn't you take more supplies? Were they just not necessary? Is it not as dangerous where you come from? I'd like to hear about it." He waited for a minute, but she didn't reply, not that he had expected her to. He stood up and started to walk towards the door. "I'll check back in a few hours. Just… shout if you need anything."

"Daisy."

He stopped just as he was about to exit the room and turned back towards the hoarse-sounding voice. "Did you… say something?"

The human wrapped her arms tighter around her doll. "She's not just a doll, her name is Daisy." She coughed a few times, probably because she hadn't spoken in such a long time.

"I'll remember that. So, your doll's name is Daisy, but what's your name?"

The human turned towards him just enough for her to be able to make eye contact. "Stop treating me like a child, Lucario. I'm the same age as you."

Lucario stared at her, partially surprised by the fact that she was speaking so much but also by the fact that she knew his name and his exact age somehow, even though he had never told her either. Even if she had heard his name from somewhere else, what reason would anyone have to mention his age? Was that really the full ability of an Aura Reader?

"Alright, but you still didn't answer my question. What's your name?" Lucario asked again.

He waited for a good amount of time, but she had gone silent again, staring back at her music box and never taking her arms away from Daisy. Lucario sighed, left the room and headed to the dining room for dinner. There were a lot of people there already, making up a wide variety of pokemon. Lucario went to his usual seat next to the person in charge of the castle. Mismagius had been there for many years now, before Lucario was even born. She had raised him since the time he was a hatchling, possibly only hours old and abandoned near the castle. It had taken Lucario years to uncover the truth about his family, a truth that Mismagius would hopefully never know.

The food supply was dwindling. Pokemon in Atra didn't usually resort to eating meat, since it would mean hunting other pokemon, which the majority of them were above doing, but if things kept going the way they were, there wouldn't be a choice. Once, though this world was always devoid of a sun, life had found a way. Plants grew everywhere as one might expect. The world was dying though and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Lucario could feel it, see it even, the life force of the world itself slipping away, only still close to normal levels in certain areas. Some pokemon capable of emitting light, especially those who knew Sunny Day, had started to raise plants in desolate areas, though it didn't do much for the withering nutrients in the soil. The castle had its own supply grown the same way, but even these meager food supplies were starting to wither and die.

He could tell that he wasn't the only one who noticed, but everyone else chose to hide their worries behind jokes and false smiles. Maybe people thought they needed a little hope, Lucario wondered if there was any left. Hope was dying, just like everything else.

Since the human spoke, Lucario had been conflicted about whether or not to tell Mismagius. That sort of information was precious, but at the same time he needed confirmation that it wasn't just a fluke, that someone hadn't just said something. "I got her to speak today."

"Did you?" Mismagius placed her food back down on the plate. "It's good to know she's starting to feel better. What exactly did she say?"

"Her doll's name is Daisy." Lucario replied nonchalantly while taking another bite of his own dinner.

"Daisy. What an interesting name."

Lucario stopped eating and turned to look at Mismagius. "What makes you say that? Does it mean anything?"

"A Daisy is a type of flower. I haven't seen one anywhere in this world in a long time. It was a theory I've been working on, but I don't think she's from this world at all. There are stories of entire worlds inhabited by humans while humans haven't been seen in this one in thousands of years. I can't think of any other reason she would know what a Daisy was. Have you ever seen one?"

Lucario shook his head. "I might have at that lake we go to sometimes, but I can't say I have. I've never taken much notice.

"Did she say anything else?"

"She knew my name and my age. Can you think of any way she would know those things?" Lucario asked.

"She is an Aura Reader, after all." Mismagius went back to eating. "Things are about to get interesting around here."

A few more days passed after the human first spoke. She hadn't said a word since, but Lucario had caught her sitting up in bed and eating a few times. It looked like she was eating a little more too. It didn't seem right though. Everyone in Atra always acted so happy, but she acted more like he did, as if all the hope in the world had died already. She never smiled, she never joked, she never laughed… it almost looked to him like she was purposely trying to make it so she never recovered. Had she lost something precious to her? That was all he could really think of. What else could cause such an intense sadness?

Lucario started to form a habit where he would sit on the bed next to her while she ate and just talked. It would have been great if she replied, although she never did. He would tell her about things that had happened during the day, like how he had helped to pull a cart off of a Pidgey who had been trying to steal from it or how he had rescued a child drowning in the river.

"It storms a lot here, so the rivers have been overflowing. There aren't any plants to hold the soil in place, so the ground around rivers crumbles away easily. That kid had been searching for food all day and stopped by what looked like a calm stream to get a drink. When he was bending over to reach the water, the ground under his feet crumbled and he fell in. He was swept far downstream by a strong undercurrent. I had just finished restoring the peace between the Pidgey and the pokemon she had tried to steal from when someone came into the town saying that someone was in the river." Lucario shook his head. "Nothing is safe these days, not even getting a drink of water. He was unconscious for a long time, but eventually he woke up. He wasn't unconscious as long as you were, of course." He waited but as usual she didn't reply. "I know you can speak. Why don't you ever say anything?"

"I like to listen." She said without meeting his eyes. "Could you leave me alone now? I don't think your stories make you sound like anything special. They're not very interesting anymore."

Lucario was taken aback by her bluntness. He had worried for her because of the condition he had found her in, but he still didn't know anything about her. Maybe she was just that kind of person. "I wasn't trying to sound important." Lucario stood up and walked back towards the door. Just as he was about to exit, Mismagius and Honchkrow, the pokemon assigned to take care of the human, both walked in.

Normally Lucario would have kept walking if not for Honchkrow. He was sure that Mismagius wouldn't do anything to hurt her, but Honchkrow was another story. He earned the nickname "The Good Doctor" more out of spite than for any other reason. His technology was years ahead of theirs and nothing that anyone in the world had seen before he came along, but his poor demeanor made him disliked by just about everyone. Stories of the things he had done varied between pokemon, but he almost seemed to enjoy causing some unnecessary pain to his patients.

Mismagius floated over to her and bent down so she was at her eye level. "How are you feeling today, dear?" The human mumbled something, but Lucario couldn't hear exactly what it was. "Well you're improving at the very least. Listen, there are other people who might get hurt and we need to free up this room as quickly as possible. Do you live alone? Or with someone we can try to find to let them know where you are?" the human went quiet again and shook her head. "You're not lost, are you?"

"I have no idea where I am…" she said. "But I'm not going home. What's this place called?"

"Both this world and the kingdom you're in are called Atra." Mismagius said. She seemed to calm down slightly after hearing this. If she really did come from another world though, how did she know about Atra? "Well, Honchkrow? Would she be able to move to another room?"

"You're letting her stay? Always picking up strays…" Honchkrow gave a nasty glance to Lucario. "None of my business I suppose. I just need a blood test to check once more for infections." He took out a needle from a bag he used to carry medical supplies and walked over to her. Her disposition changed almost instantly. Her eyes widened at the sight of the needle and she started to shake. "Afraid of a needle… This is going to be a pain. Lucario, hold her still will you?"

"Do you really need to take another blood test? Would anything really have changed?" Lucario asked.

"You can't be too cautious. Just do it."

He knew there was no way this human would ever start to like him after this, but what else could he do? At least if he did this he would be able to help her get away from Honchkrow so it wouldn't have to happen again. He walked up to her and held her still. She fought back, of course, and was surprisingly strong too considering she had been unconscious for a week, but he managed to keep her still for a while. Judging by how badly she flinched when Honchkrow stuck the needle in, he wasn't exactly being careful about how much pain he was causing. After he was done, Honchkrow walked back out without even looking back.

Lucario let go of her and whispered "I'm sorry" under his breath, but he wasn't sure if she heard it or if she was ignoring him altogether.

A few hours later she was moved into another room which was bigger than the one she had before and would be hers for as long as she stayed there. It previously belonged to a smaller pokemon who, like so many others, had gone missing with the rising number of Shadow Pokemon. That pokemon's bed was still in the room, though a larger one had been moved in for the human to use. There was a fireplace against the wall opposite the beds and a large window that took up most of the wall opposite the door they entered from. Near the window was a large piano that had gone unused since the room's previous resident vanished.

The human walked to the window and stared down at the town surrounding the castle. It was dark and cloudy as ever. The torches in the streets were unlit to signify that it was time to sleep, though there was no distinction between day and night in most places.

"Why is it so dark here?" she asked.

"It's been this way for a long time." Mismagius said. "This world once had a sun that kept it alive, but it hasn't been seen in years. These clouds keep the world covered in eternal darkness. Nearly everything has died, and no one knows why."

Things were looking bad. She obviously hated Lucario and she had started to speak to Mismagius. It could be devastating if an Aura Reader willingly started to work for her. Lucario thought back to her blunt response to him from a while earlier. What if she was the sort who would ally with Mismagius? His well-intended rescue of her may have just brought Mismagius a powerful ally.

"Lots of people have tried, but no one has been able to figure out why things have happened the way they did." Mismagius continued. "It would be strange if an outsider like you were able to figure it out without much effort."

"Are you suggesting I could?" she asked. "I have no idea why this world is the way it is. I'm tired now, can I go to bed?"

Mismagius sighed and disappeared through the floor. Lucario stayed for a while longer than Mismagius did, but the human girl avoided his gaze most of the time and didn't speak. When she finally did look up at him, it was obvious she wanted him to get out. He turned to leave and as he shut the door and began walking down the hall, heard the sound of piano music coming from her room.

As long as Honchkrow left her alone, things would be okay for now. Lucario had other things to do. Pretending to go to bed as he normally did, Lucario went up to his room. As soon as his door was closed and locked, he snuck out through the window. He had done it so many times that the jump from the fourth floor of the castle to the ground below wasn't even a big deal to him anymore.

He ran off in the direction of the forest. The place he was headed to was far past it through mountains and a series of tunnels. Most other pokemon would have difficulty traveling this far in one night without anyone noticing. He only slowed down when he was deep inside the main tunnel. There was a faint glow up ahead. He felt like he was finally able to breathe for the first time since he had last been here.

He stepped into the larger cavern that the tunnel led to. The cavern was, as usual, lit by hundreds of glowing orange flowers. What caused them to grow the way they did was a complete mystery, but they only grew in places like this where the energy of the world was still close to normal levels.

In a few minutes, he had reached his destination; a large city carved out of the cavern. In the center of the city was a lake where the majority of the orange flowers grew along with a variety of other plants. He wondered briefly if there were any Daisy's growing there, though he didn't know what they looked like. An ally of his was there as usual, dozing off in the light of the flowers.

Lucario walked up to her and shook her shoulder to wake her up. "Meganium. Come on, we have work to do."

Meganium lifted her head off of the ground and yawned. "That time already? The Solar Flowers are still lit."

"I want to get started early. The sooner we start, the more pokemon we can rescue." Lucario walked towards one of the buildings, which he had used as his own. He walked inside and came back out a few seconds later with a dark colored garment slung over one arm. "Where is he?"

"That guy? I have no idea where he runs off to. Probably sleeping in one of the other tunnels. He seems like a decent pokemon at least. Pretty eager to help actually, but he just sort of keeps to himself. You haven't been back here since rescuing him. Actually you seem a little different from when I last saw you… Did something happen?"

Lucario sighed and turned away. "We have a problem. On my way home the last time, I found a human Aura Reader."

"A human?" Meganium asked. "And an Aura Reader too? Where is she? Mismagius doesn't know, does she?"

Lucario nodded. "She knows. Normally I would have taken her back here for you to treat her, but we were too far away and she needed help desperately. She hasn't talked much since she regained consciousness, but from what I can tell she might be getting close to Mismagius and she doesn't exactly like me. This is the worst possible situation. To think that everything can be ruined by some human kid from an entirely different world who has no idea what's even going on."

Meganium placed one of her vines on Lucario's shoulder. "Well, just take the night to calm down, alright? If she's a decent person, human or not, she'll come around eventually. Don't worry about it."

"I'm not even sure if she is a decent person. I haven't been able to tell yet." Lucario shook out the garment to get the wrinkles out of it and started to walk back towards the entrance. "I won't let it distract me though. If what you say is true, then I shouldn't have to worry about her. If she does side with Mismagius, it's just one more enemy we'll have to face eventually."

Meganium smiled and nodded. "That's the spirit. I'll stay here as usual in case you bring anyone back with you."

Lucario returned to the castle as usual by the next morning. Mismagius had managed to convince the human to come down and eat with everyone else during breakfast, but she didn't look happy to be there. Lucario wasn't exactly happy about the seating arrangements either, with her sitting on one side of Mismagius and him sitting on the other. When she did something like that, it was hard to tell whether she had done it on purpose or not. As irritating as it was though, he hardly had the energy to pay too much attention to it.

"Not sleeping well?" Mismagius asked. "You've been having trouble sleeping for a while now, haven't you?

Lucario glanced over at Mismagius, but found that he wasn't the only one who had. Mismagius was staring straight ahead, so it was hard to tell who she was talking to, but judging by the dark circles under her eyes, the human had been having as much difficulty sleeping as Lucario had been pretending to have.

Lucario turned away and went back to eating, not wanting her to think he had been staring at her on purpose. He decided that he would try to talk to her after breakfast to make sure that she was alright.

After they had finished eating, Lucario was about to stop the human before she went back up to her room, but Mismagius spoke to him first.

"There's something I need to talk to you about. Follow me."

Lucario wasn't too nervous. There was always that chance that she had figured out what he was trying to do, but she had done things like this enough that he didn't worry too much about it. She didn't speak again until they had gotten far enough away from anyone else who might have been able to overhear them.

"About our next trip. I know it was supposed to be tomorrow, but I think we should postpone it due to the recent circumstances." She glanced up at the ceiling, indicating the human who was probably sitting in her room by now several floors above them.

"I don't mind. I do think it's weird that she showed up here like she did. An Aura Reader, no less, showing up right when we've been searching for one. I would like to look into it if I could. I mean, where she came from and why she came here."

"Hmm." Mismagius tilted her head slightly. "I think it would be a while before we get any information like that from her, but it doesn't really matter. Still, it seems like too great of a coincidence for her to show up right when you happened to be out on a walk through the forest and with those shadow pokemon chasing her too. I'm sure Shade has something to do with it. That's why I think it would be a good idea to try to get her on our side as soon as possible. I want you to help me convince her."

This was bad. Lucario needed to do something to get out of this situation. Then again, if that human did join Mismagius and later Lucario got her to join him… Having someone else aside from himself close to Mismagius could prove to be useful.

"She doesn't exactly like me, does she?" Lucario said, not wanting to just jump into agreeing with Mismagius's plan.

"Nor me." Mismagius said sadly. "That's why I think we should just tell her the truth from the start. If we just tell her what we want right away, I think at the very least she'll have more time to warm up to the idea, even if she rejects it at first."

Having no other option, Lucario followed Mismagius up to the upper floors of the castle to the human's room. Wanting to be polite and not startle her by just walking in, Lucario knocked first. When they opened the door, she acted like she hadn't noticed them at all. She was sitting in a chair by the window holding Daisy with her music box on the floor next to her.

"Are we interrupting you?" Mismagius asked and, unsurprisingly, the human didn't answer. "There's something that we really should talk about if you're going to be staying here. This might sound like a lot to ask, but we could really use your help."

When she still didn't respond, Mismagius glided over to her and hovered near her chair. "Do you know how the ruler of this world is chosen?"

She kept staring out of the window, not even acknowledging that they were there. It looked like a storm was coming. "It's not here tonight…"

"What isn't?" Mismagius asked.

"That cloaked person who was in town last night. I saw him out the window. I wonder who it was…"

"You don't mean—" before Lucario could say more, Mismagius glanced back at him to get him to stop.

"Don't you know who it was?" Mismagius asked.

"Shade…"

Mismagius tried to hide it, but Lucario could see her disappointment. For a second she really believed by some complete fluke she was about to find out Shade's identity. "That's what he identifies himself as, yes, but don't you wonder who's really under that hood?"

The human stayed quiet for a while before replying with "Don't test me, Mismagius."

"Maybe we should come back tomorrow." Lucario said partially to each of them.

"She should at least know why we're here." Mismagius moved a little closer to the human, acting more like a mother comforting a child than anything else. "Dear child, do you even know what you are? Do you ever wonder how the information you have tends to just come to you out of nowhere? It's an ability few are blessed with. Those few are referred to as Aura Readers." When she didn't respond, Mismagius kept going. "In this world, there were once many who possessed these abilities and the crown was always given to the one with the most fine-tuned of them. They were seen as the wisest, strongest, and most capable of running not only the country, but this entire world. However, a tragedy recently struck. Starting around twenty years ago, Aura Readers started to vanish. A little more than ten years after the incident started, the king who was believed to be the last of them went missing. In the event that a capable Aura Reader isn't found to take the king's place, the title would normally be passed to an heir, but unfortunately he had no children. As his advisor I took over temporarily and have been waiting ever since for an Aura Reader to come to us to take his place."

Still, she said nothing. How could anyone be so uninterested in the possibility of becoming a king? Unless she already knew all of this. Just how advanced were her abilities?

"Don't you think it's strange?" Mismagius asked. "A human from another world, one who possesses the abilities which we have been searching for, who just happened to cross paths with my friend here one night while being chased by the minions of our enemy. I have no idea how you got here and your unwillingness to speak about it makes me think that you might not know either. I just can't help but think that you must have come here for a reason, as if guided by destiny, if you will."

After so many nights of trying to get some type of reaction out of her, Mismagius had finally managed to do it. The change was almost instant. In one movement, the human girl stood up from the chair, placed Daisy on top of the chair, and closed the lid on the music box, plunging the room into silence.

Considering she had hardly spoken at all since she regained consciousness, she was able to shout surprisingly loudly. "And what right do you think you have telling me all of this!? Did it ever once cross your mind that I would want no part in whatever it is that you might have been planning for me since the second he found me out in that forest." She pointed accusingly at Lucario, actually managing to make him jump in surprise. "Did it ever once cross either of your minds that I might actually have my own reason to be here?! Well maybe I do or maybe I don't but one thing I'm sure about is that I don't need some sassy ghost pokemon telling me what's what!"

Once again the room was silent. During the time when the human had been shouting, Mismagius had actually backed away a little. Lucario doubted that it was really fear, that maybe it was just her being cautious or being surprised by the sudden outburst. One thing at least that was obvious was that she had no idea how to react to this. She looked shocked and appalled by the outburst, but that wasn't it. Maybe there was some fear to it, but it was hard to place.

Whatever it was, Lucario had never seen an expression like it on Mismagius's face. While he tried to resist at first, he just couldn't keep it in. After about half a minute of tense silence, that silence was suddenly broken by his laughter, which only intensified when Mismagius reacted to it, making her expression even more ridiculous.

He had to stop himself. He looked away from Mismagius, but when he did he noticed that the human was actually smiling while holding one hand to her mouth. Almost as soon as Lucario looked over at her, she started laughing too.

Mismagius looked between the two of them and sighed and shook her head. Over their laughter, Lucario managed to hear her mumble something about having two kids to look over now before sinking to the floor and phasing through it.

Their laughter died down a few seconds later. After Mismagius left, it became suddenly awkward to just be standing alone laughing about nothing in particular. Then again, had it ever not been awkward since they first started laughing? Or whenever Lucario was

ever in the same room as this human for that matter?

She turned back towards the window, but didn't sit back down. If she had Lucario would have taken it as a sign that she wanted to be left alone, but he didn't think it would be right just to leave after finally getting a reaction out of her that wasn't obvious hatred towards him or anyone else.

"Did you say you had a reason for being here?" he asked, but then hastily added, "If it's something you'd rather not talk about, you don't have to. I was just wondering."

She shook her head, not turning towards him. "Just forget it. It doesn't matter anymore."

What else could he say? She wasn't exactly easy to talk to with the little bit of conversation she actually provided.

"What's the real reason for why it's so dark here?" she asked.

"Those clouds have been shrouding the world in darkness since before I was born. Before both of us were born, I suppose, if you really are the same age as me like you said. Well some people say that the sun was blocked out by the clouds, and some say that there was never a sun to begin with. I don't really have any way of knowing which is true."

It was starting to rain outside, but not very heavily. Maybe the worst of the storm would miss them. The human put her hand against the window, making the cold glass fog up around where she touched it. "Everything's dead or dying, isn't it? I don't know what's going on, but I can still see it. It's horrible how everyone acts, pretending nothing's happening, hiding behind smiles and laughter. They do nothing about the problem and the whole time everything's dying, probably even their own hope."

"I don't like it either. It's frustrating when I think about how many are actually trying to do something. You can talk a lot when you want to, can't you?" She shrugged in reply but didn't say anything else. "We've all just been calling you 'the human' since you showed up. What's your name?"

She shook her head. "I'd rather not say it. I think I should go to bed soon."

Lucario was worried that he might have said something that had upset her, but she didn't sound mad, just tired. "It's not surprising. Talking and smiling in the same day, you must be exhausted." She gave a short laugh in reply, but it sounded almost forced. "I'll leave you alone then."

Just as Lucario turned and began walking back towards the door, the human turned back around towards him. "Lucario, wait!" He stopped and waited for her to say something, but she hesitated. It looked like she was worried about something. "Do you think tomorrow you could maybe show me around the castle…?"

Lucario smiled and nodded. "Sure. Was that all?"

Again, she hesitated. Apparently there was something else. "About what you said, about the number of people who actually try to do something to help this world… The stuff that Mismagius was saying earlier… You never said anything about it. What do you think I should do?"

"Whatever you think is right. If you want my honest opinion, I don't think you should have to do anything. You're not from this world and you certainly don't have any part in our politics, but at the same time we could use your help. Just do whatever you think is best." She nodded and Lucario turned back towards the door. "Go ahead and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

Lucario left and headed back to his own room. He really meant what he said about her doing whatever she thought was best. He had had his doubts before. Or had he? He had been frustrated with her unwillingness to speak and that may have clouded his judgement somewhat. In spite of that, since he had first found her without knowing why, he had an odd sort of sense about this human, as if he could trust her with his life. There was a long-standing saying in their world that it was impossible for humans and pokemon to live without one another. That saying had endured even after thousands of years of the world being devoid of humans. Maybe there was some truth to that and his trust for this near stranger was some kind of instinctual response. It was a strange way to see someone after only having one real conversation with them, but it was a feeling that he just couldn't shake.


	2. Chapter 2 A Test of Strength

Lucario watched the human as she walked out into the garden. When he mentioned that the castle had one, she insisted on seeing it even though all the plants had died a long time ago. She knelt down next to what Lucario had been told was once a rose bush and lifted up one of the dead flowers with her free hand. She was using her other arm to hold her doll off of the ground so it wouldn't get dirty.

"This was a big rose bush. Someone took really good care of this garden once…" she stood back up and looked around. There really wasn't much to see and Lucario couldn't tell if she was enjoying herself or not. She looked up at the sky. "It's going to rain again."

Though anyone could tell so by looking, her observation did remind Lucario about her abilities. He had been wanting to ask about them before, but had completely forgotten until just now. "So you already knew you were an Aura Reader, right? How do your abilities work?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure… I only found out about it recently. Sometimes I'll just get random thoughts in my head and I don't know where they come from. I guess it's always sort of happened and I just never realized it, like I'll know a word or phrase and know its meaning before ever hearing it. I could never tell if I had heard it before and couldn't remember when I first heard it, or if I just somehow knew what it meant. Recently I found out about…" her voice trailed off and she looked away. "Never mind. Well, since then it's been happening a lot. I was never told what it was, I actually found out what that ability was by using it accidentally."

"Mismagius told me that only people with a certain aura can become Aura Readers. One of the reasons I've been working with her was because mine was really close to it. I have a silver aura while an Aura Reader's aura is silver and gold."

"I know it's part of the ability's name, but what is aura anyway?" she asked.

Lucario was a little surprised by this. Most people in Atra knew what aura was, but he couldn't necessarily expect someone from another world to know. Still, an Aura Reader not knowing what aura was did seem a little strange. "Aura is the energy that makes up all living things. It's invisible to most, but some pokemon like Mismagius and myself have the ability to see it. We both have it and so do all of the other pokemon in this world. Plants have it too. The world itself was something that was alive once. Everything started to die when the world's aura got messed up, but no one knows what's caused it."

"I see…" she raised one of her hands and looked at it, as if expecting to see something.

"Why didn't you just use your ability to find out what aura was?" Lucario asked.

"It doesn't always work when I want it to, it just sort of happens. I don't know how to make it happen. Ever since I got here though… it's been happening a lot more than it usually does, but I don't know why."

Lucario could feel a few rain drops starting to fall on him. They hurried back inside before it started to rain. The human would never talk when other pokemon were around. If she had already been speaking when someone else showed up, she would stop instantly right in the middle of whatever she had been saying. This wasn't so bad since she was at least talking, but her worst reaction was when Honchkrow passed them by in the hall. Without thinking about what she was doing, she grabbed onto Lucario's arm and hid behind him, refusing to walk any further until Honchkrow was out of sight.

They headed to dinner, where she was silent the entire time. It looked like now that she had calmed down from the previous day, she was scared of how Mismagius would react but Mismagius didn't mention it even once, though she did try to get her to talk a few times.

Somehow they ended up finishing dinner at the same time. Lucario had a suspicion that she had done it on purpose since as soon as she had finished she asked Lucario to walk up to her room with her.

"I just don't want to run into Honchkrow again…"

Lucario nodded. "I understand, but he was still eating when we left and most of the other pokemon who live here are okay. Really, the castle isn't so bad once you get used to it and know who to avoid."

He walked her all the way to her room and immediately turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I have some things that I need to do tonight. You'll be alright, won't you? Honchkrow won't bother you here."

Still looking a little disappointed, she nodded and Lucario left. He couldn't help it. He had fallen behind since she showed up, since he hadn't wanted to leave her alone with Mismagius.

For the next couple of weeks, this became their normal routine. They would walk around the castle during the day, usually spending time in places like the garden or in her room where they could talk without anyone overhearing them. Though their conversations didn't usually go anywhere, the human was becoming more confident each day. After dinner Lucario would walk with her back up to her room and usually leave soon after. She wondered where he went every night, since she had a suspicion that Mismagius didn't actually know what he was doing, but decided not to say anything to her.

After those couple of weeks, she would discover that the dreary and usually rainy weather she had experienced so far was considered good weather by Atra's standards. On this night in particular, it was storming badly. She hated being so high up in the castle where the thunder seemed so much louder. As usual she had her music box open in an attempt to get to sleep, but it wasn't helping at all with the thunder drowning it out.

Had Lucario already left? She didn't have a way of keeping track of time aside from the torches in the street below the castle, which always went out when it rained. She knew that he usually went back to his room before leaving though. If she hurried, it was possible that she would be able to catch him before he left. What this would accomplish, she didn't know, but it was better than just laying around unable to sleep, or rather too scared to sleep.

After a few seconds of deliberation, she decided to leave Daisy behind. It would be easier to sneak around without holding a doll. She sat Daisy down on her bed and walked over to the door, opened it a crack and looked up and down the hall. When she couldn't see anyone coming, she slipped out and closed the door behind her. Not trusting anyone the first few nights, she had stayed awake to see if anyone came in. No one ever did, so as long as her door was closed to look like she was in there, no one should go inside.

There was hardly any light in the hall. She stuck close to the walls to try to stay hidden in the shadows. Most of the other doors were closed and it wasn't too difficult to look into the ones that were open to see if anyone was inside, since they all opened in the direction she was walking in.

When she finally reached Lucario's room, he was just leaving. She was about to say something when he started looking around, almost suspiciously, before sneaking off the same way she had been doing. What was he up to? What reason would he have for sneaking around in a castle he had lived in for his entire life? She paused for a second, trying to remember when he told her about having lived here his entire life. She quickly gave up and started to follow after him.

She had wondered before where he went during the night and unfortunately she still couldn't get her ability to work when she wanted it to. This could be the only time she could find out for sure.

Lucario snuck down a back stairwell that led almost directly to the door that went out into the garden. She let him move ahead of her and waited for him to close the door and counted to ten before following after him so he wouldn't be right next to the door when she went out.

It was still storming. The lightning was even more intense when standing outside. Lucario was still sneaking around, probably worried about being seen from one of the windows. She kept still just outside of the door until he moved away from the garden. The garden had a wooden fence around it to keep people from looking inside or tresspassing, but Lucario ran over to an older looking plank on the left side, which he pushed forward and slipped out of with ease. Doing the same thing she did with the back door, she continued to follow after him.

She was nervous about leaving the castle, which she hadn't done since arriving, but things got even worse when she left and saw Lucario running into the distant forest. She ran after him, but wasn't nearly as fast as he was. By the time she had lost sight of him, she was already deep into the forest and wasn't entirely sure how to get back. The trees were large and it was dark, making it impossible to see the castle.

She kept running even after losing sight of him. Even if she didn't find out where he had been going, she needed to get back to the castle or at least find somewhere safe before those shadow pokemon who had chased her showed up.

The storm was still picking up. How was it still getting worse? She was soaked to the bone already and it was so cold. She had had enough. She just wanted to get out of the storm.

"Hello?" she shouted, hoping someone would reply and not really caring who it was, but no one did. She kept wandering through the forest, beginning to panic. She had to at least find shelter. If she could find a hollowed out tree or something, she would be able to get out of the rain and go back after the storm stopped. It would still be dark, but maybe she would be able to see the castle without the rain hiding it.

After a while of searching, another lightning bolt came down striking a tree nearby. She screamed and fell to the ground as the force of the lightning threw her to the side. It hadn't struck her directly, but she still felt the electricity going through her. After hitting the ground she wasn't able to move. A moment later she felt someone shaking her shoulder, though she was barely conscious and hadn't noticed right away.

"Hey, are you alright?" It sounded like Lucario's voice, but she could barely hear after being nearly deafened by the lightning strike.

She must have passed out at some point, because the next thing she noticed was that she was in a place filled with warmth and light. She had never seen any place like this in Atra before. She was in a small building of some sort that was made entirely of stone, but she didn't see exactly how it was held together. She couldn't see much out the window or the doorway, which didn't have a door in it, but there was light coming through which looked and felt exactly like sunlight.

"Lucario, she's awake." A female pokemon who was standing near the door shouted.

A few seconds later Lucario came running in holding some sort of black cloth over his arm. "I was just about to leave. Are you alright?"

She nodded. She didn't really feel hurt, more numb and achy than anything. "Yea I think so. What happened?"

Lucario sighed and shook his head. "I noticed you following me and I thought maybe Mismagius had put you up to it when I wasn't around. I wanted to see what you would do after getting lost in the woods so I got out of sight and watched you. If she was involved, she would have saved you, but she didn't even when that lightning struck. What are the odds that a tree would be struck right as you passed it? At least you weren't hurt and didn't have any burns that would leave marks. That would have raised some questions."

She sat up and rubbed her head. "Where is this?

"We call it the Hideout. Not the most creative of names, perhaps, but it works. It's a city carved deep inside of a cave. It's one of the few places in the world where the aura distortion hasn't had a drastic effect yet."

"And there's light here? But how is there light inside of a cave…?" unable to wrap her head entirely around where she was, she stood up a little unsteadily and walked to the doorway.

Her jaw dropped at the sight. It really was an entire city carved into a cave. In the center of it, right outside of the building she was in, there was a large lake surrounded by plants. The most surprising part was where the light was coming from. Growing just about everywhere, not just around the lake, were orange flowers that looked similar to lilies and together glowed as brightly as the sun.

She knelt down onto the ground to pick one near the door. As soon as she pulled it up, it dissolved in her hand. "What happened? Actually, what are they?"

"Solar Flowers." The female pokemon said. "During the 'day' they glow like this while during the 'night' the light dims. It's probably because of fluctuations in the aura levels, since they're actually physical manifestations of aura. These flowers are pure heat and light energy that come directly from the world itself."

She stood back up and turned to face Lucario. "But what exactly is it that you do here? Lucario what's going on?"

"I'm not going to tell you." He took a step towards her and held up the black garment he was holding. "What you did when you touched that flower just now gave me an idea. If you want to find out what's going on, do it yourself."

She reached out and touched the black garment. It wasn't hard to figure out that he wanted her to use her ability. It had never worked when she tried to make it work before though, even though it had been happening more frequently in this world. Much to her surprise, this time she was able to make it work. In fact, it worked so well that she didn't just hear the answer in one thought, but two separate thoughts.

'A hero will always appear in a time of need, and though it pained me to do it, many years ago I assured that a hero would come.' Only moments after this one, the second thought surfaced. This time it was a familiar name. 'Shade.'

"So you're Shade and this is the cloak that you use to hide your identity." She finally replied when she was done. "And from what I just figured out, you're not the bad person Mismagius has been labeling you as."

"I should hope not." Lucario shook out the cloak and put it on. It hung over his face and the sleeves were long enough to completely hide his arms. If he flattened his ears, there really was no way to tell it was him. "I've been doing everything I can to work against her, but that doesn't necessarily make me a bad pokemon, does it?"

"'A hero will always appear in a time of need' huh?" she said thinking about what had happened when she used her ability. She noticed Lucario shift a little uneasily at these words and wondered why, but decided not to ask. "I suppose that must mean that Mismagius isn't really the kind host that she's been attempting to portray herself as."

"Attempting? Does that mean she didn't fool you?"

The human laughed bitterly. "Of course not. The only reason I didn't like you in the beginning was because I thought you were working for her, but to think it was actually the opposite! So what are you going to do now?"

"What I always do I suppose. Mismagius has been doing something horrible to the pokemon of this world. She takes their auras and replaces it with her own, effectively just turning them into her puppets. She can control them if she wants, but they usually just rampage around through the wilderness, attacking anything that moves. They're trained to attack certain pokemon with promising auras, like yours, and bring them back to Mismagius so she can do the same thing to them, so what I've been doing is rescuing any pokemon I could find who are likely to be attacked and bringing them back here to join me. I hope to eventually recruit enough pokemon to help fight against her. Meganium here was actually the first to agree."

"Of course I would want to fight her!" Meganium said, suddenly filled with vigor. "I'm not even from this world and she had the nerve to take me here during a mission! My team must be so worried… Who knows what sort of trouble this has caused for them. Oh that reminds me. Since you're a human, you must be from another world too. Does your world have a sun?"

"Yea… it does…" she replied, thinking this was a strange question to ask.

This seemed to make her happy, at least. "Oh you have no idea how long it's been since I've been able to see the sun. I really do feel sorry for your situation, but it really is nice to finally meet someone who knows what it's like to have something like that stolen from you."

"So this world really doesn't have a sun then?" she asked

"It doesn't. That's just something Mismagius says to keep people from worlds like ours hopeful. If we lost all hope we might weaken, but it's the person who provides that hope who has the most power over us. In some situations it's a good thing, but not when it's for the reasons that Mismagius does it."

"Well, I should get going." Lucario pulled on the hood to make sure it was covering his face completely. "I'll be back in a few hours and then I'll take you back to the castle before Mismagius notices you're gone."

"Hold on, can't I come with you?" the human asked.

"Absolutely not!" Lucario said in astonishment. "You should have learned how dangerous shadow pokemon are from when you first got here. Its great that you don't have any loyalties to Mismagius and having an Aura Reader on our side could be useful, but I just don't think it's possible for a human to keep up with a pokemon."

"Well why don't you just test me before deciding something like that!?" she snapped at him.

Lucario was mildly surprised that she would snap at him like this. Maybe she was the sort who would go to any lengths to get something she wanted. He took his hood off to be able to see her better. She looked determined. "Do you really want me to test you? I won't hold back."

"I do!" she practically shouted. "You said you were trying to get pokemon to join you to form an army to fight Mismagius, right? Well why shouldn't humans be able to join?"

Lucario sighed. "Alright. Let's move to one of the emptier tunnels so we don't mess up the flowers."

He led the way and the human followed him. Meganium was worried by how Lucario said he wouldn't hold back and followed after him to make sure she didn't get hurt. They walked into one of the empty tunnels, and stopped the second they realized it wasn't empty. In the darker tunnel ahead of them there was a soft yellow glow coming from a set of rings. They moved slightly and they heard something yawning. The rings moved more and began to move towards them. The black pokemon who the rings belonged to stepped out of the darkness and stared up at the human.

"You got someone new, huh?" he asked.

"She thinks a human could keep up with a pokemon, so I'm going to test her."

"I see." He dropped his gaze and walked passed them. "Have at it, then. I won't get in your way."

"Who was he?" the human asked once the black pokemon had left.

"His name's Shadow." Meganium said. "Lucario rescued him just before he found you. He's pretty eager to help, believe it or not. He just prefers to be left alone. Apparently he's survived on his own for years before Lucario found him, running from Mismagius and fighting the shadow pokemon the whole time."

"Don't worry about him too much." Lucario walked into the tunnel, as far back as he could go without being in the dark. "Let's give you that test you wanted so badly."

The human stepped forward and Meganium stepped back out of the tunnel to give them enough space. Lucario assumed his usual fighting stance and she did the same, though it wasn't one that he had ever seen before. She raised both of her arms with her elbows bent and held close to her body while also having her hands curled into fists and bent downwards. It sort of reminded Lucario of how a Meowth would curl their paws, but he didn't know any Meowth that were capable of advanced forms of martial arts. It was clear that she had been trained by someone; it just wasn't easy to figure out who. Maybe this was normal for humans, though it looked unnatural somehow.

She didn't rush at him right away, another sign that she had some form of training. Her eyes barely moved, but he had a feeling that she was looking for an opening of some sort. Lucario considered being the first to attack, but this was her test, so he would wait for her to make the first move.

Eventually she rushed towards him. Judging by her speed, she was attempting to use her momentum to add some extra strength to her attack. It had worked too. She extended her right arm quickly and managed to get Lucario on his left shoulder. The force of it actually made his arm go numb for a few seconds. In that time she raised her right arm back up and turned to the left to block a possible counterattack from his right arm. At the same time she swung her leg forward to attack his currently weakened left side. He managed to recover in time and catch her leg, but that was possibly exactly what she wanted him to do. She pulled her leg back, but not to attempt to free it. Instead she jumped into the air and added the force of pulling her leg back to kick out with her free one. Lucario had been too distracted trying to move his left arm to be able to react quickly enough. She got him in his chest right below the spike and pushed him back hard.

It looked like it was a common thing for her to use momentum to make up for her lack of strength. He couldn't think of any other explanation aside from that she must have fought pokemon before. Thinking that if he kept holding onto her leg she would just use that to stand herself back up when he fell, Lucario let go of her. Her momentum sent her in the opposite direction, but she managed to twist the leg he had let go of in time to catch herself on her feet. Using his tail for balance, Lucario also managed to keep standing.

Now he understood how she fought, but could she dodge as effectively? He ran towards her and swung his right arm towards her right side. She turned so she was facing directly towards it and raised her arms, surprisingly, to catch his arm in her wrists. She was using her wrists to compensate for the fact that she had her hands curled into fists and couldn't use them to grab anything. It was enough to stop his attack and in a fraction of a second she uncurled her hands and grabbed onto his arm, which was still stopped at her wrists and Lucario couldn't pull it away in time. He tried to swipe at her feet, but she jumped up, using his arm for leverage, and used it to vault over him. There was a second before she let go completely where she twisted around to land facing towards him. Doing this involved letting go of him with one hand and balancing on his arm momentarily with the other before finally letting go.

Lucario would have to adapt to her fighting style to be able to counter. He used the momentum from swinging his leg to sweep at her feet to turn around quickly, but he didn't have enough force to follow through with the attack. Instead he crossed both of his arms to block any attack that she was about to do. She was in the middle of extending one of her arms again, but the second he crossed his arms together, she stopped and jumped back away from him to avoid hitting the spikes on his arms.

After she jumped back, Lucario pushed himself forward with the foot he had been using to brace himself for blocking her attack. Swinging from the sides wouldn't work the way she had her arms raised. She could easily turn to either side to catch it with her wrists like she had before. In fact, attacking her anywhere from the front would probably have the same result. He leaned forward as if to attack with one of his arms and as he expected she held her arms closer to herself to prepare to block, but she also moved her leading foot back slightly to brace for the attack. Training or no, leaning into an attack like that was a rookie mistake. At the last second he leaned back and lowered himself to the ground. This time, he managed to swipe her feet and instantly she was knocked onto her side. With her legs angled the way they had been, she wouldn't have been able to jump to dodge it. Before she could get back up, Lucario jumped towards the wall to her right and turned back to face her.

She stood up, wincing, and turned towards him, but it looked like she was having trouble raising her left arm as high as before since she had fallen on it. Anyone who was facing an opponent like this would instantly go for the first available weakness. She would need to learn that in order to avoid making the same mistake with her stance in the future. He ran towards her and swung towards her vulnerable left side. Instantly she stopped wincing and raised both of her arms, once again managing to catch his arm in her wrists and cling onto it with both of her hands. It didn't feel like her arm had been weakened at all. She smirked and this time, instead of using his arm to vault over him, swung forward and kicked out both of his feet. Just before he fell, she used the force from the fall to swing herself upwards and also twist Lucario around so she was able to pull herself back to her feet instantly and Lucario landed on his back with her standing over him, one arm extended forward and the other back, ready to strike if he tried to stand. Somehow, he had lost.

He stared up at her, astonished by what had just happened. "How… Wait, your arm…"

She smirked again and held out a hand to help him up. "Wasn't hurt as much as I made it look. Of course in a desperate fight, no one would fight fairly, would they? That's what you were trying to teach me by taking advantage of that weakness in the first place, right?"

"I thought I was the one who was supposed to be testing you, but I think it was the other way around." Lucario leaned back against one of the walls of the cave and rubbed his arm where she had hit it for the first time. "Where did you learn how to fight like that?"

Her smirk faded instantly and she dropped her gaze and went back to being as quiet as she normally was. It looked like any mention about her personal life at all did this to her. Still, she was like an entirely different person when she was fighting. He never would have expected something like that from her. What she said bothered him though. "In a desperate fight, no one would fight fairly," Lucario had initially thought that she must come from a peaceful place if she only brought a doll and music box with her, but if that were true why would she know that?

"The person who can give others hope has the most power over them, right?" she asked in a somewhat quieter voice than she had been using before. "How are you any different than Mismagius?"

"Of course I'm not like her!" Lucario replied, actually feeling offended by this. "I don't just make empty promises like she does. She promises to bring back a sun that doesn't exist if she gets help from other people. Something like that just isn't possible. She's just lying to control people!"

"You promise to defeat Mismagius, don't you?" she asked. "Do you think that's possible? Aren't you just lying to everyone, including yourself?"

Lucario hesitated. He didn't want to admit it, but he had avoided asking himself that same question for a long time. It really did seem hopeless with no one to tell him it was possible. That was all he could ever do for anyone else. For the last couple of years he had been doing this, but still their numbers were small. He almost always got to them too late to be able to rescue them. Once a pokemon was turned into a shadow pokemon, there was no way to get them back. It really did seem impossible.

The human didn't look at him. She didn't look mad, more confused actually, like she didn't know what to do now. She never denied that she was testing him. She must have already known that people would take advantage of her weaknesses, so she knew that Lucario would attack her to demonstrate. What was she trying to prove? Maybe it wasn't something in his attack, but her counterattack. She had countered him flawlessly, not because she was taking advantage of a weakness, but because Lucario thought she was weakened when she really wasn't. He didn't think she would try to fool him like that. He might not have lost if he hadn't trusted her so much.

"You still don't trust me, do you?" Lucario asked.

"Not fully." She admitted without looking at him.

How was he supposed to prove to her that she could trust him? He did need an Aura Reader on his side, for no other reason than to make sure they're not on Mismagius's side. She had already assured him that she wouldn't be on Mismagius's side, so he didn't need to worry about that as much. He didn't just want her to not be Mismagius's ally though; he really wanted her to be his ally.

"Can I trust you?" he asked. She didn't respond, which worried him, but how could he expect any more from her? She probably didn't know what she wanted to do. She had been dragged into the affairs of this world without even having the luxury of the option to say no. "I know it's asking a lot, but there are people in this world who really do need your help. Maybe I need help too, because you were right. The situation the way it is now really does seem hopeless, but there are pokemon like me who were born into this world who have no idea what this world was like before. I want to stop it, that's all."

"What would happen when Mismagius is gone?" she asked. "She's been filling in because there's no king. Who would take over?

"Traditionally, it would be either you or me." She noticed a slight quiver in his voice and looked up. It looked like he wanted to say something, but he was hesitant.

"If you give me a reason to trust you, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to trust me." She said in an attempt to reassure him.

"Mismagius mentioned already that the king of this world is usually an Aura Reader. In the event that one can't be found though, it's the descendant of the previous king who's chosen to take the throne."

The human's eyes widened as she realized what he was saying. "So you're… sort of like the prince of this world?"

He nodded. "The previous king was my father. After I hatched he left me near the castle so Mismagius would find me. My aura wasn't as complete as yours is, so she wouldn't try to make me take the throne like she did with you. With no reason to think I was his descendant, she took me in and raised me, a descendant of her greatest enemy, without ever knowing. Eventually I met my father, who was still hiding. He didn't tell me who he was, but he trained me in secret. Then one day the shadow pokemon got to him and he became the first in a long line of people who I would fail to save. One of the things you heard from using your ability earlier was part of what he said in order to keep me from running to his rescue and revealing myself to Mismagius. I don't want revenge for a person I barely knew, or even all of the other people I knew who have been turned to her side, I just want to stop it from continuing."

Even if his motives were for revenge, she could see that what Lucario was doing was still this world's best chance. She decided that for the time being motives didn't matter. "I guess I could trust you for now…"

Meganium was starting to look impatient. She was worried that they might be hurt and wanted to treat their injuries right away. They walked back towards the lake together. The way the human had been standing before with her arms clasped together, they hadn't noticed, but when she showed them, there were large dark bruises on her wrists from where she had caught Lucario's attacks. Her legs were the same where he had tripped her and her left arm had a large bruise on it from where she had hit the ground, though that one was the least severe.

"I thought your arm wasn't really hurt." Lucario said, feeling a little guilty for not realizing how badly he actually had managed to hurt her.

"I didn't say I wasn't hurt. It's just that the way I fight it wouldn't matter since I keep my arms so close to myself anyway. It's like using myself to balance my arms, so it doesn't really matter if I do get hurt."

"I think it would be going a little far to say that it didn't matter!" he said. "I know I said I wouldn't hold back, but if you had been fighting a pokemon for real, they would be using their moves against you. If they did that, you would be hurt a lot worse than you were in our fight."

"I'm normally stronger than that, but after being unconscious for a few days and then hardly getting out of bed at all, what do you expect? I just need more practice, that's all. And you can't just rely on moves either. If you ever can't use them for some reason, you'll just need to fight. We should just practice together for now on."

Lucario was taken aback for a moment by her abruptness. "Now hold on. I never agreed to that. What makes you think you can just decide that on your own?"

"Well you want me on your side, don't you?" she asked. "Just assume for a moment that I didn't go with you and just… I don't know, stayed around here all the time. What would happen if this place was discovered and I had to defend myself anyway? You should help me build up my strength some more. And the way you fight, I think you need me."

Lucario's ears drooped a little and he let out a slight exasperated smirk. She really was the sort to just decide what was going to happen and then do it. Was there even any point in trying to argue?

The flower around Meganium's neck started to glow and any of their injuries that the light shone on healed within a few seconds. It really was too bad that the human had been in such a horrible condition when Lucario first found her that he couldn't bring her back here. Meganium could have healed her almost instantly and she wouldn't have had to worry about Honchkrow poking her with needles.

"So will you let me go with you?" she asked.

He should have known this was all still leading up to that. "I suppose, but we'll have to find a cloak or something for you too. I'd rather Mismagius think there are two Shades rather than realize that you're working with Shade. If she sees you, she might make the connection between me being Shade and then we would both be in trouble."

"I hadn't thought of that." She said.

"Well let's not worry about it right now. I think it's too late to get anything done this time, so maybe the next time we come here we can worry about it. There is one thing I want to address before we leave though. You still haven't told me your name."

The human sighed and stared at Meganium's flower, more as an excuse not to meet Lucario's eyes than for any other reason. "I just don't like my name."

"Why? It's just a name. You can't enjoy just being called 'human' all the time, can you?"

"Well by that logic you must not enjoy being called 'Lucario' all the time either. Names are symbols, labels. You wouldn't want to be labeled as something you disagree with, would you? Do you think the story of Shade would be nearly as memorable if Shade went by another name?" He couldn't argue with that logic. "You know what? I'll prove how pointless those labels really are. Let's make a bet. You get three tries to guess what my name is. If you can do it in three tries, you win. If you can't do it, I win."

"Alright. It's not much of a bet without some sort of wager though. What will the reward for the winner be?"

The human shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't really think about it. I doubt you'll be able to do it though, so why don't we just say the winner decides when the bet is over?"

Lucario felt like he was entering into some sort of soul binding contract by agreeing to a bet like this. It wasn't as if in the event that she won and she asked for something out of line or something that wasn't within his power that he would really have to do it. What were the odds that he would win? There must have been thousands of names in existence and he could only guess three at the most. Still, there was something about this deal she suggested. It sounded more like a childish bet than anything serious. He was curious about her name. What was the harm? In the end he nodded in agreement. "Alright, it's a bet."


End file.
